The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1887-05-24

her everyday ddties, ,she allowed him
to play with the other children on the
parade-ground. AT 2 o'clock the maid
was sent to bring him in to dinner, he
having failed to appear as hungrily
prompt as usual. In a quarter OF an
hour she returned, fullof mingled ok.
oitement and fright, and said that, not
finding TrOttie on the parade, she had
gone to the houses Of the other officers
children, only to be told that STrottie,
WAS not with any of them. Nor had he
been seen for some time. Then Mabel,
terrible certainty stabbing her heart
with pang that made her fair face
look. suddenly gray and aged. Cried.
sharply, THAT Indian woman has
taken hint Mytbab5. my babyi't'iHsg Sj5
In vain Tom Herlot assured her that
their naughty boy, who was q great
pet in the regiment, would surely beN
found in one of the soldiers quarters
feasting his eyes and ears with strange
sights and sounds.
''Go and see." she said, hoarsely;l
'ibut you will not find him unless you
find hor.."a E# e &a&&Ra a8 81
When he came back presently, very
white and quiet. from his useless
search, the alarm had spread, and there
were kind faces and mysterious sugges.
tions and offers of assistance in Mabel's
little drawing which suddenly
looked so desolate. o.s.
Nobody but Mabel gave the Indian
woman more than a passing thought,
for they were all used to daily visits
from Indians. who had long been per.
fectrul peaceful, and were believed
quite incapable Of a bolder crime than
petty dishonesty. Besides, what mo-
tive could tempt them to steal child,
whose discovery in their hands would
be most certainly severely punished,
while even his undiscovered possession
could not avail them In any wayp 1t
was not long before = soldier was sent,
after a whispered consultation to climb
down the bluff at the further end or
the parade, toward which the mothers
in the garrison had been glancing
shuGderingly ever since the news Of
Trottie's disappearance. In terribly
short time lie returned, the tears filling
his kindly Irish eyes, and III his hand
Trottie's little fez, which he had found
halfway down the bluff, just where a
rock oyerhung the swift Yellowstone,
A great silence fell upon the fort,
which had been so full Of excitement,
and the voices which had spoken OF
hope and courage to Mabel we're hushed
when Tom Heriot, sinking down beside
his wife's chair, laid his head on her
knees and sobbed.
1t was Mabel who spoke, almost at
once, IN strange strained voice that
was yet instinct with energy, and
something which, if it were not hope,
yet was resolved that it would not lie
despair.
'Tom, darling, do not give him up.
Our boy never went near the bluff. He
promised me again this morning that
he would not, and he would no more
break a promise than-than you would,
Tom. That Indian woman has him.
Find her, find her quickly, dear--I
cannot walt much longer" ,ft5ut
More to soothe her than from any
hope OF finding her belief true, Tom,
with another officer and few soldiers,
rode to the little Indian camp about 1.
mile from the fort, only to find that
nothing was left Of it but some burned
out fires. Something Of his wife's
strong conviction seemed to pass into
Tom Heriot's heart at the sight Of that
suddenly deserted camp. N &tE
1--WE must make up several parties
and search for them," he said, briefly,
to the officer with him, as they rode
back to the fort, but there was the
light Of a new hope in his eyes.
There Is this much Of resemblance to
a family In such a small and isolated
community as the garrison at Fort
Fletcher, that, however much they may
quarrel among themselves In prosperity,
the touch Of great sorrow on one Of
its members effaces all asperities for
the time in the remembrance Of how
close and entire is their mutual de-
pendence on each other. From the
colonel down to the latest arrived re-
cruit there was no heart in the regl-
ment that did not feel a pang at the
thought Of the blue fearless eyes and
straight baby figure which, whether
carried away in the rush Of the Yell
loWstOne or across the prairie to some
Indian hidlng-place, they had little
hope Of seeing him again. There were
more volunteers than were needed for
the searching parties as soon as Tom
asked for them, and with the last one
to set out Tom went himself, after a
sharp struggle between his restless de-
sire to be doing something toward
finding his boy and his sense that he
was leaving Mabel to bear the heaviest
burden Of suspense alone. It was she
who sent him away in the end.
Before midnight they were all gone,
and she was left to wear through the
long hours Of waiting in the rooms
where all Trottie's life had beon spent,
and where every chair and table grew
precious to her in that long watching,
because they seemed to assure her, with
the dumb force Of everyday association
with him. that It was Impossible he
could be really gone forever,
All that night and the next day she
live through such agonies.. Sometimes